Chapter 9, Problem 1CSD

At the beginning of this chapter, we discussed research by J. Sholl et al. on the relationship between gender and sense of direction. Recall that, in their study, the spatial orientation skills of 30 male and 30 female students were challenged in a wooded park near the Boston College campus in Newton. Massachusetts. The participants were asked to rate their own sense of direction as either good or poor.

In the park, students were instructed to point to predesignated landmarks and also to the direction of south. For the female students who had rated their sense of direction to be good, the table on page 368 provides the pointing errors (in degrees) when they attempted to point south.

1. a. If. on average, women who consider themselves to have a good sense of direction do no better than they would by just randomly guessing at the direction of south, what would their mean pointing error be?
2. b. At the 1% significance level, do the data provide sufficient evidence to conclude that women who consider themselves to have a good sense of direction really do better, on average, than they would by just randomly guessing at the direction of south? Use a one-mean t-test.
3. c. Obtain a normal probability plot, boxplot, and stem-and-leaf diagram of the data. Based on these plots, is use of the t-test reasonable? Explain your answer.
4. d. Use the technology of your choice to perform the data analyses in parts (b) and (c).
5. e. Solve part (b) by using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test.
6. f. Based on the plots you obtained in part (c), is use of the Wilcoxon signed-rank test reasonable? Explain your answer.
7. g. Use the technology of your choice to perform the required Wilcoxon signed-rank test of part (e).